“The Battle of San Romano” by Paolo Uccello (Louvre)

“The Battle of San Romano” by Paolo Uccello is a set of three paintings depicting events that took place at a battle between Florentine and Sienese forces in 1432. This painting is exhibited at the Galleria Uffizi, Florence, and the other two companion paintings are shown at the National Gallery, London, and the Musée du Louvre, Paris. The three pictures were designed to be hung high on three different walls in one large room, and the perspective was created for that purpose, which accounts for anomalies in the perspective when viewed at standard gallery height.

This panel depicts the Counterattack of Michelotto da Cotignola at the Battle of San Romano. Da Cotignola was at the service of Pope Martin V and of the Republic of Florence, being decisive at the Battle of San Romano against the Sienese. After the treaty, he was made Commander-in-Chief of the Kingdom of Naples.

This panel was designed to be the last painting of the triptych, the sequence most widely agreed among art historians is The London panel, followed by the Uffizi and then the Louvre panel. They also represent different times of day starting with dawn (London), mid-day (Florence) and dusk (Paris) as the battle lasted eight hours. In the foreground, broken lances and a dead soldier are aligned to create perspective. Painted with a view similar to that of a tapestry, the landscape rises in a picture rather than receding into the background. The illusion of a backdrop resembles a stage, and war is depicted as a theatrical event.

The painting incorporates gold leaf in the decorations of the harnesses, which has remained bright. The silver leaf, used on the armor of the soldiers, has oxidized to a dull grey or black. The original impression of the burnished silver would have been dazzling. All of the paintings have suffered from age and prior restorations.

Paolo Uccello was an Italian painter notable for his pioneering work on visual perspective in art. Uccello was obsessed with perspective and worked hard to create the perfect vanishing point. He used perspective to create a feeling of depth in his paintings. Working in the Late Gothic tradition, he emphasized color and spectacle rather than classical realism.

Exploring different versions of The Battle of San Romano

The Battle of San Romano (The National Gallery, London)
“The Battle of San Romano” by Paolo Uccello (Uffizi Gallery)
“The Battle of San Romano” by Paolo Uccello (Louvre)

The Battle of San Romano

Title: The Battle of San Romano
Artist: Paolo Uccello
Created: 1438-40
Medium: tempera on panel
Dimensions: 182 × 317 cm
Museum: Louvre Museum

Paolo Uccello

Name: Paolo Uccello
Birth Name: Paolo di Dono
Born: 1397 – Pratovecchio, Italy
Died: 1475 (aged 77–78) – Florence, Italy
Nationality: Italian
Notable work:
- The Battle of San Romano (The National Gallery, London)
- “The Battle of San Romano” by Paolo Uccello (Uffizi Gallery)
- “The Battle of San Romano” by Paolo Uccello (Louvre)

A Tour of the Louvre

Paintings
- The Mona Lisa” by Leonardo da Vinci
- “Ruggiero Freeing Angelica” by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres
- “The Valpinçon Bather” by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres
- “The Turkish Bath” by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres
- “Grande Odalisque” by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres
- “Perseus and Andromeda” by Joachim Wtewael
- Self-portrait with Her Daughter, Julie by Louise Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun
- “The Virgin and Child with St. Anne” by Leonardo da Vinci
- “Louis XIV of France” by Hyacinthe Rigaud
- “The Massacre at Chios” by Eugène Delacroix
- “The Battle of San Romano” by Paolo Uccello
- “Virgin of the Rocks” by Leonardo da Vinci
- “The Death of Sardanapalus” by Eugène Delacroix
- “Psyche Revived by Cupid’s Kiss” by Antonio Canova
- “Liberty Leading the People” by Eugène Delacroix
- “The Arcadian Shepherds” by Nicolas Poussin
- “The Lacemaker” by Johannes Vermeer
- “The Money Changer and His Wife” by Quentin Matsys
- “The Fortune Teller” by Caravaggio
- “Portrait of Baldassare Castiglione” by Raphael
- “Charles I at the Hunt” by Anthony van Dyck
- “An Old Man and his Grandson” by Domenico Ghirlandaio
- “Vulcan Presenting Venus with Arms for Aeneas” by François Boucher
- “La belle ferronnière” by Leonardo da Vinci
- Self-Portrait by Élisabeth Sophie Chéron
- The Four Seasons by Nicolas Poussin
- “The Death of Marat” by Gioacchino Giuseppe Serangeli after Jacques-Louis David
- “Oath of the Horatii” by Jacques-Louis David
- “The Coronation of Napoleon” by Jacques-Louis David
Egyptian Antiquities
- Hunters Palette
- Akhenaton and Nefertiti
- Seated Scribe
- Fayum Mummy Portrait –
Near Eastern Antiquities
- Law Code of Hammurabi
- Gudea, Prince of Lagash
- Victory Stele of Naram-Sin
- Statue of Ebih-Il
Greek, Etruscan, and Roman Collections
- The Winged Victory of Samothrace
- Venus de Milo
Sculpture
- Tomb of Philippe Pot
- “Rebellious Slave” by Michelangelo
- “The Dying Slave” by Michelangelo
Highlights of The Louvre